Analysts Set Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:FMX) Target Price at $105.16

Key Points

• Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. has an average analyst recommendation of "Hold", with four analysts issuing hold ratings and two assigning buy ratings.
• The company's quarterly earnings report indicated a missed earnings expectation with an EPS of $0.42 compared to the consensus estimate of $0.91, along with a revenue of $11.27 billion.
• Fomento Economico Mexicano recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.3625, resulting in an annualized yield of 6.5%, up from the previous dividend of $0.73.

Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:FMX - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $103.80.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FMX shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup raised shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $93.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from $110.00 to $107.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (down from $132.00) on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday.

Institutional Trading of Fomento Economico Mexicano

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FMX. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano in the 1st quarter worth about $330,437,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 309.6% during the 2nd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,714,895 shares of the company's stock valued at $176,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,194 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 11,692.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 716,029 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,171,000 after purchasing an additional 709,957 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,112,036 shares of the company's stock valued at $106,139,000 after purchasing an additional 570,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Talaria Asset Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Fomento Economico Mexicano during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,110,000. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE FMX traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $87.32. 228,336 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 667,562. The stock has a market cap of $31.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.72, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.16. Fomento Economico Mexicano has a 1-year low of $81.07 and a 1-year high of $108.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Fomento Economico Mexicano (NYSE:FMX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.71 billion. Fomento Economico Mexicano had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 5.32%. On average, analysts expect that Fomento Economico Mexicano will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 17th were given a $1.3625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 17th. This represents a $5.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.2%. This is a boost from Fomento Economico Mexicano's previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. Fomento Economico Mexicano's payout ratio is currently 74.83%.

About Fomento Economico Mexicano

Fomento Económico Mexicano, SAB. de C.V., through its subsidiaries, operates as a bottler of Coca-Cola trademark beverages. The company produces, markets, and distributes Coca-Cola trademark beverages in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.